


No Reason or Rhyme

by furiosity



Series: Eternal Summer (Right out of Hand) [1]
Category: Free!
Genre: Episode Tag, Fluff, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-08
Updated: 2014-07-08
Packaged: 2018-02-07 22:46:36
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,187
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1916868
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/furiosity/pseuds/furiosity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Makoto brings up a childhood memory of a sort of promise made long ago. Things... unexpectedly... escalate.</p>
            </blockquote>





	No Reason or Rhyme

**Author's Note:**

> First in a series of short one-shot episode tags I'll do (or try to do...) for each episode in this Free! season. ^^ Title from [Melancholy March](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KGDpihaBatg) by Julie London.

"And what about you, Mako-chan? What would you like to be when you grow up?"

"Meeeeee?" Five-year-old Makoto put down the slice of apple he had been about to bite into -- it was rude to talk with your mouth full of food, mama said -- and considered the question carefully. He didn't need to: the answer was as clear as a sunny winter morning and so happy he couldn't help smiling. "I'd like to be Haru-chan's bride!"

"Oh, my!" Haru-chan's mom covered her mouth and laughed in that strange way adults did sometimes, as if they knew a secret but didn't want to tell you what it was.

"May I please, Auntie?" Makoto asked, peering up into her face anxiously. "Is it okay if I become Haru-chan's bride?"

Still chuckling, she ruffled his hair. "You'll have to ask him that, honey. How about it, Haru-kun? Would you like Mako-chan as your bride?"

Haru-chan shrugged. "It doesn't really matter. He can be my bride if it stops him from crying all the time."

Makoto didn't mind Haru-chan not caring very much. After all, it was true that Makoto cried a lot. When he grew up, he would try not to cry so much, and then maybe Haru-chan would be happy about Makoto becoming his bride.

What really bothered him was the way Auntie kept laughing. Like she had that great big secret and didn't want to share it. Even though her eyes were so kind and her hands so gentle when she petted his hair, he didn't think it was a nice laugh at all.

*

"Makoto!"

"Huh? What?" Makoto's eyes blinked open to Haru's face, slightly annoyed.

"If you're going to sleep, go home and sleep there." 

Makoto smiled. "You're right. Sorry, Haru. I'll go now."

Haru's eyebrows furrowed for a moment, then he turned aside the way he always did when he didn't want to talk about something. "Fine."

He stood very still over Makoto in the front hall, silent, as if willing him to hurry up and leave already.

Makoto finished getting into his shoes and straightened up. "Before I dozed off, I was thinking about what Rin asked us at the pool the other day. About what our plans were after graduation?"

Haru's eyebrows quirked upwards, signalling him to continue. Makoto smiled, a bit sheepish. "I ended up having a dream about that time when we were little, and your mom was asking us what we wanted to be when we grew up."

"Oh," Haru said. "I remember that."

"It was so much easier to make those kinds of decisions back then," Makoto said. "Ren and Ran, too -- they both know for sure what they want to be. I wish we could feel that free again, don't you?"

"Free," Haru murmured, his eyes growing unfocussed.

Makoto sighed. "I don't mean like that."

"So do you still want to be my bride?" Haru asked.

Makoto's heart stumbled and sent a furious wave of heat up to his face. "W-what are you saying, Haru-ch-- er, Haru? Of course that's impossible."

"You don't, huh." Haru's mouth corners dropped a bit.

"Don't look disappointed about it!" Makoto scolded. "You're the one who didn't even care, as long as it stopped me crying, remember?"

"You hardly ever cry these days," Haru pointed out.

Makoto knew better than to indulge Haru's stranger fantasies. He really did. But some no less strange inner part of him wanted to know the answer, so he asked the question. "Does that mean you want me to be your bride now?"

Haru was silent for a few moments. "No," he said finally. "You can't even cook, so I'll have to be the bride. It can't be helped."

" _That's_ your concern?" Makoto asked, exasperated. "Never mind, I've got to get home. I'll come pick you up in the morning, so don't be--"

"Makoto."

"What?"

"You didn't really mean it, right? When you said you wanted to become my bride.."

"I meant it then," Makoto said. "I was five! I didn't know anything." He didn't know what else to say in his defense. Would Haru think he was strange now?

But Haru nodded, apparently satisfied. "Good night, Makoto."

"Good night, Haru."

*

Makoto was about to press Haru's doorbell when the door slid open and Haru walked out, dressed in his uniform and carrying his schoolbag.

"What a rare sight," Makoto said, adjusting his backpack straps with a smile. "Ready, Haru?"

"Uh-huh."

Makoto was glad he wouldn't have to spend any time trying to get Haru out the door. He'd ended up lying awake half the night, thinking about Haru's strange questions, and the matter-of-fact way he declared that he'd be the bride because he can cook. Haru could be a little odd sometimes, but he had to know that a man couldn't be a bride no matter what. And that for two guys to get married was completely impossible. That had been the big secret behind Haru's mother's laughter.

So now that he'd had almost no sleep, he was in a hurry to get to school. They had English first period, and he'd be able to sleep a little with some crafty textbook placement.

"Last night," Haru said.

Makoto really wished he hadn't. The last thing he wanted was to be unable to fall asleep in English. "Yes?" he asked, his smile a bit tight.

"You really don't want me around for the rest of your life?"

"Haru, no!" Makoto said, so mortified that he stopped walking. "That's not what I meant--?" All thoughts of sleep had vanished from his mind, but he didn't even care any more.

At first, Haru probably didn't notice that Makoto had stopped, and continued walking at the same unhurried pace he always took. To Makoto, though, Haru's movements seemed even slower, as though he were watching Haru walk _away_ from him in slow motion -- and all he wanted to do was reach forward and hold on to Haru's uniform jacket and never let him go.

Haru finally stopped and turned with a somewhat surprised look on his face. "What did you mean?"

"I just meant -- guys _can't_ marry each other!" Makoto said, spreading his hands helplessly. "That's just common sense."

"Not true," Haru said. "Guys can marry each other in lots of places, like Brazil and Canada. I looked it up before."

"But we are in Japan," Makoto pointed out, feeling like a complete lunatic.

Haru frowned slightly. "Are you tied to Japan by some evil power from outer space, _moge_?"

"Don't _moge_ me! It's not outer space power, it's earth power," Makoto said, exasperated. "Things like laws. We can't just leave Japan. We'd need passports and money and, you know, some special papers and things. You can't just go live anywhere you like in the world."

To his relief, Haru nodded. "Would you go with me if we could?" he asked.

This time, the heart-lurching heat shot up Makoto's neck to his ears and face, all at once like a flood. But the answer was still there, clear as a sunny winter morning, making him even happier than before.

"Of course."

[end]


End file.
